Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Busy week ahead

Next week is going to be a busy week in the Schwartz household. Colby begins school on Monday (I thought it was Friday but it has been changed to Monday), Adrien "the Mexican" comes Thursday and he's staying until Saturday morning, and Adam arrives Saturday evening for 12 days. Colby is getting really excited about school. We went out and bought him new sneakers and new clothes for school next week, and I let him pick it all out. I called the school this morning and asked if I needed to send him a snack for recess, as the kids are bussed home and back again for lunch. I was told that there was no need, as this is all provided for the kids. The only day that snacks are not provided is Fridays, which is "Bring a snack to share" day. The kids all bring snacks to share with their class. What a fabulous idea! That way the kids get to know each other really quickly, and get to taste a variety of foods. All the snacks provided by the school are healthy (veggies, cheese and crackers etc) and I'm sure looking at the dietary habits of my neighbours via watching them shop at the Northern, this may be the only healthy snack some of these kids get. I'm still amazed at the amount of money spent up here by the government on schooling. They pay their teachers top dollar, all school supplies and snacks are provided for the kids, and they are bussed to and from school plus home and back for lunch everyday. And the kids are dropped off at their houses, there is no such thing as walking to the bus stop. I doubt it's the same in Yellowknife, but I don't know. It is self governed out here, and if the money they spend on education is any indication of where their priorities are, keep me here!

In other news, Joey is now walking more and more each day. He now for the most part walks around the living room, and is beginning to enjoy cartoons and kids shows. He also has a Fisher Price shape box, where the lid has holes in the shapes of the blocks included, and loves to dump them out and put them in the proper holes. It's funny to watch him. He concentrates so hard on which one goes in which hole, and then you can see his facial expression change when he remembers that the lid comes off. He smiles, lifts the lid off, and puts the rest of the blocks in it. Leave it to a male to find the easiest way!

1 comment:

Valentina said...

The school system up there sounds really good! I bet Colby will love school and he'll make new friends really easily.
I bought the same kind of educational toy for my friend's baby (Max) last May, but he doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as Joey does. I am pretty sure that the problem there, though, is that this kid has far too many toys and finds it hard to concentrate on just one for more than a minute... talk about overstimulation!